FORMER BANKER Paul Grangaard recalls a time when most of his colleagues owned only a few pairs of shoes: two to alternate between for work, one for the weekend and a pair of running shoes or sandals. That, he has noticed recently, is no longer the case.

"I have a friend who's the CEO of a Fortune 500 company in Minnesota. He tells me this is the first time he's had more than four pairs of shoes," said Mr. Grangaard, 55, now the president and CEO of American shoe brand Allen Edmonds. "He said he's up to seven, and it's all my fault."

When it comes to footwear, men's attitudes are starting to resemble those stereotypically associated with women. The signs are everywhere. Over the last year, J.Crew doubled its men's dress shoe offerings. Saks Fifth Avenue has been devoting more and more space to men's shoes; in its Beverly Hills menswear store, footwear now occupies the entire first floor. Since Mr. Grangaard took over at Allen Edmonds in 2008, he's doubled the company's business by reviving classic styles along with more contemporary spins on them.

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"There is an explosion of men's shoes right now. The business is on fire," confirmed Eric Jennings, Saks Fifth Avenue's vice president and men's fashion director. "It runs the gamut from classic dress shoes to designer sneakers that are extremely fashion forward."

So which pairs does a guy now need to own? Mr. Jennings's list of essentials includes wingtip brogues, cap-toed lace-ups, slip-on loafers and any style in cordovan-hued leather, which coordinates well with blacks, blues and browns. A monk-strap shoe, he added, while not essential, can be a smart addition.

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"I've got derbies, bucks, wingtips, brogues and a monk -strap," said Andrew Chisholm, a 34-year-old New York-based advertising copywriter who has signed up for a shoemaking course at the Fashion Institute of Technology. The side-buckled monk-strap style happens to be a favorite of J.Crew's head of men's design, Frank Muytjens, who showed both suits and jeans from his spring collection on models wearing white or gray suede double-strap monks from English brand Alfred Sargent.

Sam Lobban, senior buyer for online retailer Mr Porter, adds boots to the list, whether Chelsea, desert or chukka. None of these above styles is particularly new; in fact, they're classics. What makes the current offerings a footwear feast is the sheer volume of new colors and fabrications as well as subtle tweaks to familiar shapes.

Some also consider a new popular category—the fashion sneaker—to be an essential. High-end fashion brands like Lanvin, Balmain and Saint Laurent are finding an ever-growing market for their versions, which start around $500 and go up to four figures. "It used to be 'Sex and the City,' women and the Manolo Blahnik. Now it's men spending $1,000 on sneakers," said Matthew Chevallard, the 27-year-old co-founder of Del Toro, a contemporary shoe brand he founded in 2005.

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Banana Peel | The inside of the peel of a slightly unripe banana can function as a polish. But no monkeying around: Be sure to buff off stray fibers.
Illustration by Holly Wales for The Wall Street Journal

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Vinegar | Not just for dressings, white vinegar is good for removing salt streaks in winter. Mix it with an equal amount of water and wipe streaks away.
Illustration by Holly Wales for The Wall Street Journal

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Champagne | Though it sounds crazy, dabbing shoes with bubbly as the final step of a shine is said to smooth away excess wax. Fine vintages optional.
Illustration by Holly Wales for The Wall Street Journal

One man instrumental in establishing the sneaker trend is Prathan Poopat, 41, the co-founder of Common Projects, a line of minimalist kicks that have married running shoes to Italian leather and shoemaking since 2004. "It seemed like a gap in the market," said Mr. Poopat. "Something very basic, something luxury that wasn't screaming a logo or a brand." Such innovations blurred the line between casual and dress-up. Suddenly, there was a pair of sneakers that you could wear to a dinner party. "For me, it's a wardrobe staple," said Lanvin menswear designer Lucas Ossendrijver, who added sneakers to the tailoring-centric French label. Though Lanvin has introduced more athletic-looking cross-trainers and high-tops, the cap-toed sneaker Mr. Ossendrijver first made—think a fancy pair of Converse—continues to be the best-seller.

One can trace the shoe boom to a growing interest in menswear driven, in large part, by blogs and their endless streams of street-style photographs. As dress codes have relaxed and been reshaped (Mr. Jennings pointed out that shorter pant hems have shone more of a spotlight on shoes), men have started to use footwear to express their personal style. "You can see trends from all over the world—cool guys in Austin and Paris and Tokyo," said Los Angeles-based designer George Esquivel, 43, who began his career making shoes for members of Pearl Jam and Nine Inch Nails, and is now known for creating inventive custom shoes for fashion-forward clients like New York Knicks center Tyson Chandler. "Men start getting tired of black and brown and very basic things," Mr. Esquivel added.

As the shoe-niverse expands, a host of new brands and designers has emerged (see below). Perhaps the most prominent among them is Mark McNairy, 52, whose inability to find a proper buck five years ago led him to make his own. Since then he's applied a rainbow of colors both to the suede uppers and sometimes to the soles. "Mark has had a great influence on [the trend toward] merging street style with sartorial style," said Saks's Mr. Jennings. Del Toro's Mr. Chevallard gives classic smoking slippers a similar twist, offering them in plain black velvet or camouflage with a red toe cap.

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Of course, many shoe enthusiasts still worship at the altar of tradition, coveting decades-old, UK-based brands in particular. "The demand for British men's shoes has gone through the roof," said George Glasgow, 30, who runs George Cleverley, a mostly custom shoe business his father opened in London in 1958. Since 2007, Mr. Glasgow has noticed a younger, savvier audience for his made-to-measure wares and for the ready-made shoes he sells through Mr Porter, where they are a top seller. "Ten years ago, it was the Duke of Beaufort," said Mr. Glasgow. Now it's younger bankers, guys in their 20s (guess where Daniel "Harry Potter" Radcliffe gets shod?) and even well-heeled university students (a pair of ready-made Cleverley oxford brogues costs $1,600). Younger customers are also buying driving loafers and refreshed neon-soled bucks and chukkas from American brand Cole Haan, founded in the 1920s.

In some cases, the two sides have merged in traditional-contemporary collaborations—114-year-old British company Alfred Sargent and J.Crew; Allen Edmonds and Freemans Sporting Club; 147-year-old brand Grenson and Rag & Bone—that provide the best of both worlds.

Menswear will never be a rule-free category, but the unprecedented number of footwear options has certainly broadened the scope of what's acceptable. Reflecting on how much codes have shifted, Allen Edmonds's Mr. Grangaard said: "When I went to work for an investment bank in 1986, our boss said he would never hire anyone who would wear brown shoes to an interview."

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New York-based designer Noah Waxman makes shoes that are Dutch-inspired but American-made. "Style in Holland is a perfect marriage between things that are cool and wacky [and the] very functional," said Mr. Waxman, who studied shoemaking in Utrecht in the Netherlands. The designer, 39, launched his eponymous footwear collection earlier this year. For fall, he updated the classic chukka-boot design with two unexpected materials—embossed Western leather and haircalf, both in a rich burgundy. For spring, he used raffia, a material not commonly found in men's footwear, with brightly colored suede. The line, he said, is for men who demand the sort of form and function that doesn't compromise style. "That's essential in shoemaking," he said. "It has to work in a technical sense, and be beautiful."

Broken Homme

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Broken Homme
Illustration by Holly Wales for The Wall Street Journal

What do surfers and skateboarders wear when they graduate to the next phases of life? That's the question that Jim Leatherman, 33, and Josh Johnson, 32—both action-sports aficionados—pondered before launching their California-based footwear brand, Broken Homme, in 2012.

"We were thinking about the man who wasn't wearing Vans any more," said Mr. Leatherman. Forming the heart of the collection is footwear in traditional silhouettes that is sturdy enough to work in but sleek enough for formal affairs. The duo uses heavy black Vibram outsoles instead of leather soles in their boots and oxfords to avoid a too-formal look. They source full-grain hides from American tanneries in the Midwest and Southwest for a robust but polished feel. Broken Homme's shoes are completely made in the U.S.A., a point of pride for the designers. "We're not a heritage brand that's been around for a hundred years but we are conscious of being locally made," Mr. Leatherman said. "We consider ourselves a new generation of American craftsmanship."

Feit

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Feit
Illustration by Holly Wales for The Wall Street Journal

"Feit is a play on the word 'fight,'" said Tull Price, 37, about the new footwear label that he and his brother, Josh, 34, launched in their native Australia. "It refers to the struggle of doing something you're passionate about." That could explain why the Prices only produce limited runs of each Feit style annually. Their process is painstaking: Every pair of their minimalist leather hiking boots, slippers and sneakers is hand-sewn from a single piece of leather that's fruit- and vegetable-dyed, then sits in a lightly steamed room for up to 10 days until the humidity naturally tightens the leather around the last—the foot-shaped form used by shoemakers—to create a superior fit. Now in its sixth season, Feit was picked up by the soon-to-open Dover Street Market in New York. And the Price brothers intend to remain in high-end boutiques. "We're not looking to build the business really big," said Tull. "We are focused on creating high-quality products on a small scale."

Another great men's footwear brand to keep your eye on is Beckett Simonon. Their entire new Goodyear Welted collection is under $139, thanks to the company's direct-to-consumer business model. By shipping all products to customers and cutting out the "middle man" or retailers, Beckett Simonon is able to offer amazing quality at an affordable price. Ideal for the stylish yet price conscious gentleman!

Anyone know of a good replacement for men's "Dressports" from Rockport, the ones the company made 10 - 15 years ago? Cost about $130 then? My partner's last pair of cap-toe Dressport business shoes just can't be refurbished any more, and he's not at all interested in the complete junk the company is making now.

He had a few pairs of "Dressport" totally classic-looking cap-toe dress/business shoes (black, dark brown and oxblood) that did not at all look like sneakers but were (secretly) light, super-comfy Rockports.

How is it that I am the first commenter here to notice that there are "Price brothers" mentioned in this article?! - much like "Price and Sons" from the Broadway musical Kinky Boots, which is about a family owned high quality English shoe factory that has to find a new way to do business because cheap imported disposable shoes are making it impossible to stay in business making the old quality oxfords that last forever. Anyone who reads this article must go and see the musical - especially those Price brothers!!!

All I want to know is who is the goofy bast%%d who came up with the idea of shoes with toes extending 3-5 inches beyond the reasonable space around the toes? Is this harkening back to the floppy toed shoes in the late middle ages? Some subliminal advertising linking foot length to some other body part length. It may be fashion, but it looks silly on your basic Japanese young man with shoes on with a length like that of an NBA basketball player ….

No western or cowboy boots? Better check out American boot makers Stallion, J.B. Hill, Tres Outlaws or Rocketbuster...in ascending order of fun (risk, here) down in ElPaso. American-made art for your feet and ankles and calves! And all are custom-made/designed usually at no extra charge.

You could ask me about my new J. B. Hill anteaters featuring inlaid ants crawling up and over the pulls…the last pair of pre-ban hides they had in the vault.

I appluad men finally getting into shoes for more than foot protection. I probably have more than 50 pair. My problem is that at some historical point of style, shoes were supposed to be matched with belts. A rainbow of shoe colors is wonderful, but take a look at the belt offerings at any high end department store - boring variations on brown and black. Please tell me that help is on the way.

The comparison of a businessman to a woman as it applies to workplace footwear may be justified with some men, but never to me. I still have the black Johnston & Murphy wingtips that I bought in 1968. [They have been resoled four times.] And I still wear them with suits that call out for black footwear. I bought a pair of Brooks Bros. Peale formal patent leather shoes but they cracked and Brooks wouldn't do a thing about it. I got a plain toed shoe at Three Day Suits that was good enough for my formal occasions and I still have those. I have a brown and a black pair of Cole-Haan sandals but don't wear them much anymore because I live in the country and have to contend with chiggers. I have a pair of brown and black traditional Cole-Haan "penny" loafers, also over 25 years old. The only trick to having good shoes carry on so well is a good shoe man. They're hard to find. Allen Edwards' offer to re-vitalize your shoes is one of the best manufacturer's services I have ever heard of. If I was a younger man, building my wardrobe I would only buy their shoes. The other piece that is missing is most men I know don't know how to care for footwear. I know a Phd from Claremont who didn't even know that there were such things as re-soling shoes. He just tossed them out when the heels wore out and bought a new pair.

I have always dressed conservatively. My stuff never goes out of style. 1-1/4" cuffs; 2-1/2" lapels, oxford button down shirts; and shoes that your dad wore. It's a frugal way to manage a wardrobe.

Men's shoes can be fun but my feet are not generally fitted to off the shelf and I will not be visiting Savile Row anytime soon...no, not ever. Where are the custom, computer generated shoe lasts connected to highly skilled but lower cost cobblers somewhere 'out there'? I had a Kowloon connection decades back, but lost that to reunification I think. At this late date can this be all that difficult?

These stories about trends are pretty funny. Journalists are looking for something significant to write about and the people quoted in the stories are looking to sell something. So, there's "an explosion in men's shoes"......as though, I the reader, must be completely oblivious to what's happening because I have not had a personal explosion.....gee maybe I should rush out to the shoe store?!? What is wrong with me?Actually nothing. In fact I'm sure that men's shoe sales have been pretty flat for years now.

My general business shoes are Bostonian, one pair brown & the other black. For casual & etc. I have 3 pair of Acorn loafers and one fine pair of GBX lace-ups. For outside work, I have Irish Setter, Carolina, and Havana Joe boots, the latter for working with my dog in the sheep paddock. Note that I have 2 pair of each of these boot styles as I purchased them at a significant discount from liquidators. For housework, I have a pair of Irish Setter lace-ups colored in brown and spattered in Navajo Red (garage door), Yellow, Red, and Green (dog agility equipment) and White (paddock fence posts). And for winter, a pair of Sport Chief insulated boots.

Costs ranged from $120/pr. for the Bostonians (which can be resoled twice before the uppers wear out) to $15/pr. for the GBX (which cannot be resoled). I usually wipe out one pair of shoes or boots a year, so I have a self-imposed moratorium of no more shoes/boots for the next five years (unless a really nice pair shows up at the thrift shop, like the GBX, for less than $20/pr.).

A forgotten detail about shoes is something I was 'taught' when working in Italy. I wore my standard Allen Edmond wingtips, black and brown with my suits all year round. Then someone in the office asked me, how come you wear winter shoes all year round? The thickness of the sole and the robustness of the leather in the upper distinguishes a 'summer' from a 'winter' shoe - thinner soles and lighter, leather upper for summer shoes - vice versa for winter.

Note - only Americans wear loafers with formal clothing. No one else would do that. Loafers are for loafing not formal. And please, leave the tassels on the graduation caps and leave them off of your shoes.

Lastly, shoes should match your belt and a pet peave of mine, men that still wear braided leather belts. Gentlemen, can we please lay down these 80's relics?

Love my Allen Edmonds. I like Johnston & Murphy too but many of them are not made here.. I was chuckling at the article though..... most were manufacturers I'd never heard of and at $1,000 per pair, they appear to be out of reach I imagine even for many WSJ readers.

Tony Lama Cowboy King belt. C41653 $65. This model has four colors and a center cutting to match your Wingtips. The engraved buckle is snap off so you can change to metrosexual for New York and back to Western in Wyoming and not get knocked off the diner chair.

Just wait Bruce, pretty soon you'll be able to make your own shoes using a 3-D printer. Any style, any color, just don't expect them to fit or wear very well, but what the hey, you could print a new pair every night and throw them away after wearing them the next day.

I have four pair of Alden shell cordovan shoes; wing tip, cap toe (1 black 1 color 8) and penny loafers - where them most everyday. Also have new pair of Rancourt ranger mocs. http://www.rancourtandcompany.com/Cannot stand some of these nuveau goofy styled dressed shoes.

All joking aside, I think you are on to something here. We finally can point to a legitimate, practical use for 3-D printing. Use laser technology to measure your feet (length, width, instep, etc) and then have the 3-D printer create/print the "last" on the other side of the world. They get an accurate representation of your foot (as well as a customer for life), you get a custom fitted shoe at a fair price, all without the need of crossing oceans.

Way different from $15 discount store shoes - no comparison at all. I have a pair of 12 year old Johnston & Murphy's that I've resoled / re-heeled twice - still going strong and way more cost effective over the long run than buying & scrapping a pair every 2-3 years at $75/throw - about the price of any 'decent' department store shoe that won't be resoled repeatedly.

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